


Autumn Leaves, Summer Breeze.

by CaramelLatte (BunneHood), DaughterOfInkAndLetters



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Already established relationships, B), Drugs, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fake town bc I couldn't find a town near LA that fit the mood that I wanted, Gabe is a stoner and likes to party, High School AU, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Jack doesn't know he's gay, Jack moves from Indiana to California, Just a small town girl, M/M, Mild Language, Moving to the big ol city, Rating will probably change, Slow Burn, The younger kids go to middle school with Genji they'll be here in later chapters, This will be gay, You can probably guess why, sad gabe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:38:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7870486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunneHood/pseuds/CaramelLatte, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfInkAndLetters/pseuds/DaughterOfInkAndLetters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's parents decided to retire while they were sure they had enough money to do so comfortably. Unfortunately for Jack, he'd only had a year of high school left and now he had to go through senior year completely alone and nearly across the country. He feared a year of loneliness lay in front of him until a rusty pickup truck pulled up beside him and gave him a ride.</p>
<p>Overwatch High School AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A la ocasíon la pintan calva.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually made an ao3 account and waited 5 days to get an invite just because I wanted to write this so badly. This is the first fanfiction/story I've written in a long time so please bear with me if this first chapter is a little bit of a rough start. I read it dozens of times through and I'm pretty satisfied with it but I hope whoever reads it thinks the same thing. I promise there will be more Jack/Gabe in the future but when I tag slow burn I mean slooooowwwww buurrrrnnnn. Also please give me criticism if you see anything that needs to be changed or you think I dragged on a little too much during certain parts. If you want to privately roast me about my writing style please go to my tumblr @videogamelesbian. (I tried hyperlinking it but it kept linking back to an ao3 page. I apologize)
> 
> P.S- I took one year of Spanish and I sucked at it so most conversations between McCree and Gabe will be summarized through tone and body language. I just don't want to disrespect the language through Google Translate or anything like that.

If where his parents decided to move was a “city” then Jack Morrison wasn’t sure what his hometown used to be. 

He was certain that moving to a city shouldn’t mean that he had to walk a half-mile every day to the bus stop to take him to school. And it really didn’t make any sense to move when he only had a year left of high school, but his parents had been hard-working farmers their whole lives and decided to retire while they were ahead. They were growing a little too old to maintain their large cornfields anyway, leaving behind the farm to some of Jack’s older cousins. No matter how much begging he did to get them to hold off moving until he was shipped away to the army, they would just push forward with their plans, promising that it would all be fine. Promises of “it’s only a year”, “you make new friends fast”, and “we’ll finally buy you a car” didn’t comfort Jack at all. Can a year go by in a week? A boy could pray. 

He cursed to his empty, half-unpacked room when his alarm screamed before the sun could even take its first breath. His parents probably weren’t even awake yet. The retired life would suit them well. They’d spent their many years beating the lazy sun outside before it could bring warmth to the cornfields that he’d soon grow to miss. Jack thought that they deserved to sleep in after all those days where they were so drained that could barely form a coherent sentence.  
_It’s not like the army will let me sleep in,_ he thought, _it’s best to get used to this now._

The clock lit up the time. 5:30 am. The numbers were enough to make him groan in exhaustion. School didn’t start until eight, but that long walk he dreaded for the last week was finally upon him and he wasn’t sure how long it would take him to travel to the next neighborhood over. He was hoping that today would be the only day of having to get up this early. Every night leading up to this very moment he had asked the heavens above to bless him with news of getting a car so he could get to class at his own pace. He wasn’t nearly as religious as his parents, but now he was convinced that God was dead as his feet hit the wood floor.

He went through his normal morning routine fast enough to get out of the house by six. John and Lucy Morrison were just waking up as their new screen door slammed shut and Jack took off at a brisk pace down the long, and, though he had no time to appreciate it right now, beautiful road into the next place of residency. The sky was finally brightening up around ten minutes into his almost-jog. Jack was grateful for the sudden illumination of the world around him until it started to get unbearably hot and sticky. “ _Fuck_ California,” he said as he began to regret wearing jeans. All his morning shower did was waste time, apparently. He would have to cut it out of his schedule in order to properly enjoy his breakfast tomorrow, he noted as he checked the time on his phone obsessively. 

Why his particular school didn’t come and pick up the kids where he lived, he had no clue. Maybe it was because he was the only student out there. It sure as hell felt like it. Unfortunately Clearwater High School was the closest school to his house, so he had no choice in where he would spend his last year of grade school. He picked up the pace. 

At around 6:20, when he had broken out into a jog to reach the stop in time, he heard a motor behind him that sounded like it was destined to blow any second. Jack took a look behind him and saw a rusty pickup truck speeding down the long road. It passed him just as fast as it took for him to look back and he could _feel_ how fast it was going by the force of the air that hit him. The truck quickly disappeared down the road as it took a clumsy right turn and Jack huffed. 

Grumbling something about reckless driving, he took a left into the edge of a small neighborhood. There stood a long row of one story houses in his line of sight, all very similar with intricate patterns in the rocks used to make the outer walls. The only difference between a few of them were the differing colors of the material used. A group of kids that were half asleep stood in a semi circle on the corner of one of the sidewalks. 

“Is this the stop for Clearwater High School?” He asked the most alert-looking one who clung to her coffee mug. All he got in response was a nod that shifted her blonde bangs and a yawn.  
Thankfully that was all he needed to know. 

Shortly after the brief exchange, the bus came around the corner and the kids all staggered up the stairs in front of him. The bus driver looked almost as tired as he felt and Jack all of a sudden felt like he should just walk the rest of the way to school. Unfortunately that would just make him late to his first day and he really had no clear idea of where the building was, so he took his chances with the fatigued bus driver and plopped himself down in a seat near the middle of the bus. He put in his headphones and leaned back, staring out the window and into space.

\---------------------

The ride didn’t feel as long as it was. With a long hiss, the bus stopped in front of an archway and the sliding doors opened, releasing the students into the school. Jack was second to last off of the bus and was greeted warmly by the powerful smell of cigarette smoke. Apparently the staff at Clearwater cared a lot less than those of his old school. 

After walking by the students getting their morning smoke out of the way, he started his quest to find his first class of the morning; English. This time he asked a friendly-looking teacher rather than a student for information. She looked like she would be of more help than any of the students he’d seen so far. _This has got to be the most unfriendly student population on the west coast,_ Jack thought as he was directed towards the classroom. 

As if on cue, the previous judgement of the new school was shot down as a loud, rowdy group of students passed by him, talking about how many condoms could fit on a dick at once. Jack laughed a little to himself as they argued, still clearly audible all the way down the hall. Good thing the school wasn’t entirely stripped of personality.

“Gabe, if ya put more than ten condoms on, then your dick’s gonna fuckin’ suffocate!” A boy with a southern drawl shouted. 

“But it’s not about what _happens_ to the dick! It’s about how many can _fit_ on one!” A deeper voice, most likely “Gabe”, shouted back. The conversation quickly switched to rapid Spanish as they passed the teacher that gave Jack directions. 

\---------------------

The day went by slowly with a lack of other interesting conversations to overhear. Class periods all faded together into one big class apart from the lunch break in the middle of the day where he was forced to choose between grey chicken and pizza sticks. The pizza sticks weren’t as delicious as they looked. Jack would be sure to pack his lunch from now on. 

Every teacher made him introduce himself, he took notes, was given textbooks, made the famous “classroom friends” that he would never, ever text except to ask about homework, and kept to his own. Normally he would try to socialize but after listening in on some of their conversation topics, he decided it was better to wait for someone less addicted to drugs to come along and introduce themself. He knew people back in Indiana that smoked pot, sure, he had no problem with it, but these kids were way beyond the gateway drug. They’d beaten down the gate and stormed the whole damn castle. 

After making a mental note to switch his History class to a different block to avoid getting caught up with the drug connoisseurs in the future, he shouldered his bag and started to head back to the bus lot. Another long walk lay ahead of him but at least this time he wasn’t on a deadline. On his way down the hall he spotted the same group from before, surprisingly still in a heated debate about the condom crisis. 

Going off of southern stereotypes, he could assume that Jesse was the one wearing the loud cowboy getup, bandana around his neck and hat perched proudly atop brown hair. The taller one next to him had to have been Gabe since they’re the only two that seem to know Spanish as they flipped between the two tongues. _Wearing a hoodie in ninety-degree heat has to be part of his bad boy image,_ Jack thought, _like he feels he wouldn’t look it otherwise._ Gabe was obviously someone you wanted on your good side.

Standing large and challenging over the group made it seem like it was impossible to approach anyone surrounding him. _Those were his friends and no one was allowed to fuck with them unless they wanted to lose some teeth._ That was the tension that he gave off even with a smile on his face and a laugh coming from his mouth. But he was somehow charming despite the protective air around him. Jack couldn’t quite place why; maybe it was his voice. Maybe it was the big-brother vibe he picked up. God knows. 

The other surrounding students weren’t as intimidating, but definitely just as colorful, or more colorful than Gabe, who was dressed in the most neutral color known to man. Apart from Jesse and Gabe stood a tall, elegant girl with dark purple hair in a tight ponytail and an ankle-breaking pair of heels. Beside her stood a bubbly brunette with a pixie cut and a very distinct English accent. The last person in the group was Japanese, if Jack had to guess, silently reading his book as the conversation continued past his point of interest. Jack slowed his feet a little to try and hear the conclusion. 

“For fucks sake, Jesse, Amélie fucking Googled it; they put over six hundred on a dildo.” Said Gabe.

“Okay, okay, but the question _was_ how many could fit on a _dick._ A dildo ain’t a dick!” Jesse spat back. 

“The question _is_ how many condoms can fit on a dick! Why are you so emotionally attached to a hypothetical penis? Who cares if the dick would survive?” The purple-haired girl chimed in, with a French accent that made everything she said sound strangely pleasant. 

“Shut the fuck up! There’s no way that over six hundred would fit! You guys’re just fuckin’ with me!”  
The group burst out laughing minus Jesse, who just crossed his arms and glared around. A hand from the silent Japanese boy came up and patted the cowboy’s back, eyes not leaving his book.

“Are you offering to prove the internet wrong? I think I might have about six hundred rubbers in my nightstand.” Gabe teased with a dark chuckle. Jesse smacked his arm but just made the taller boy laugh louder. 

Hallway traffic pushed Jack further down the line and eventually out of earshot of the group. Waves and waves of students pouring out into the bus lot made it hard to find his bus number, but he luckily spotted the blonde girl from this morning and just trailed behind her. Now she was wide awake, talking excitedly to the dark-haired girl beside her about Biology class. 

Jack boarded the bus behind his unknowing guide and took a long look at the number and lane the bus was parked in case next time he wasn’t so lucky. Bus number fifty-two. Lane eight. Easy. He slid back into the same seat as this morning and plugged his earphones back in, eager to get home and take a shower and a nap. 

He didn’t even care much about the same dangerous driver that passed him again as he walked back home. The familiar force of air from before hit him. Speed racer drove on. 

\---------------------

The next two days were very similar to the first. He sat as if he were invisible in many of his classes, trying again and again to get a conversation rolling with his classmates but not being able to get past the topic of school. One difference is that he immediately began packing lunch, and used his morning shower time to do so. There was nothing different during lunch period where he sat at the end of a long table where the underclassmen played Yu-Gi-Oh, alone as he ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There was nothing different during the walks to and from school when the truck passed him fast and he was hit by the wind it created as it barrelled past. Same old, same old. This year would be slow, just as Jack feared. 

\---------------------

By day three, his guidance counselor had called him down and changed his schedule. It wouldn’t be his official schedule until tomorrow, so he had one more day of dealing with the future drug lords of the world before he was switched. The bad news was that he had to find entirely new classrooms since his other teachers had no free space in other blocks. Not to mention he now had to memorize an entire new schedule and try _again_ to make at least _one_ friend out of all of his classes. He’d gotten so close with befriending a boy named Ben. Jack sighed. _Time to start over._

Something finally deviated from the normal schedule of him being alone and awkward on the third day while Jack was walking home. The truck actually drove a normal speed and slowed down a little as it approached him, as if the driver were observing him. But just as Jack glanced over, the truck sped back off at its normal speed of whatever-the-speed-limit-was-times-three. _Great, now that guy is going to mug me,_ Jack thought. 

\---------------------

Mugging was the last thing on the driver’s mind, however, because on the morning of the fourth day, the truck slowed and drove alongside Jack. 

“Howdy!” Yelled a familiar voice, and Jack looked over to see a familiar-ish face along with it. The hat was more familiar than the face, though. 

“Hey.” Jack responded, giving a small wave. 

“Think I seen you around before! Y’all go to Clearwater, right?” He was leaning out of the window a little on his elbow to look down at Jack. 

“Yeah, I just started a few days ago.” Jack said. 

“Well, shit! I go there too! D’y’all need a ride? I remember how long of a walk it is to the stop from back here. It ain’t fair that they only go out to the ol’ Riverside neighborhood.” 

Jack acted as if he’d never seen the boy before in his life. This was the first person to really talk to him after almost an entire week of school. He wasn’t about to creep him out by implying that he’d eavesdropped in on several conversations that his friends had had. 

“A ride would be nice.” 

The response was given a loud _whoop!_ as Jesse slowed the truck to a stop and Jack walked around to climb in the passenger side door. 

“Awright! Let’s get goin’!” He laughed as he sped back up to his normal, deadly speed. 

“I’m Jesse, by the way. Jesse McCree.” The cowboy said, taking a hand off of the wheel and holding it out for Jack to shake. He took it and gave it a quick up and down motion just so Jesse would put it back on the wheel. 

“Jack Morrison. I just moved here from Indiana.” 

“Shit, Indiana’s quite aways from here. Did your folks switch jobs or somethin’?” He sat back in his seat. This was worse than the half-dead bus driver. They rounded the right turn that the truck took every morning. 

“They retired.” Jack held on tight to the handle that was screwed into the ceiling. 

“Fuck, they’re either old or y’all must be _stacked._ How’d they retire with a kid still in high school?” Jesse whistled. 

Jack laughed a little. “Yeah, they’re a little old. I think it was just because they were tired of growing corn.” 

“Corn? Your folks’re farmers?” Jesse grinned over at Jack. “Did y’all have animals n’ shit?” He turned into a smaller, run down neighborhood and started driving slower over the speed bumps.

Jack nodded and eyed some of the houses. Smaller kids stood on the sidewalk with parents still in their pajamas as they waited for the bus. “We left a few horses and chickens behind.” 

Jesse smiled even bigger. “No shit! My family owns a ranch a little ways back, actually. If y’all ever wanna ride just lemme know! Not many people wanna ride these days.” 

“I might just take you up on that some day.” Jack said as they slowed to a stop in front of one of the houses. Audible arguing in Spanish could be heard from inside since the door was wide open, save for a thin screen. Jesse honked the horn and it ceased, Gabe walking out of the screen door and letting it slam behind him, causing more shouts in Spanish to come from the house. He ignored them as he looked in the window of the truck. 

Intense, large brown eyes stared Jack down before he looked across and said something to Jesse in a language that the blonde didn’t understand. The cowboy tipped his hat and responded, gesturing to the apparent topic of conversation. 

Whatever was said must have been good enough for Gabe, who grinned and held out a large hand to Jack through the open window of the truck. Jack took it and shook it firmly. 

“You must be the most unlucky soul on the west coast to have to go to Clearwater.” He said before introducing himself. “I’m Gabriel. The bastards I hang out with call me Gabe. The teachers that want me suspended call me Reyes. Which is just about all of them.” 

The hooded boy laughed and pulled his hand back, leaning his arms against the side of the truck and peeping his head inside, waiting for a response. 

“I’m Jack Morrison. No one calls me anything but that.” He responded and Gabe grinned. 

“I can think of a few if you’re feeling left out. How about pretty boy?” He offered the nickname and Jack laughed a little. 

“I’m not feeling that one. Keep thinking them up and I’ll let you know if I hear one I like.” 

“Deal.” Gabe whistled and tapped the side of the car, pushing himself away. “Yo, Jesse, let’s get this shit rolling. I got places I don’t wanna be for eight hours.” 

Jesse groaned. “We’re both goin’ to the same hellhole, dipshit. Don’t go remindin’ me this early.” 

Gabe crawled in the bed of the pickup and up to the window behind the cab. The two Spanish speakers held a conversation for a while until Jesse pulled up to the corner of a sidewalk and two boys stood there like the rusted beauty was their routine ride. One of the two was the same Japanese boy that he’d seen hanging out with this group before. The other had green hair and looked much too young to be in high school. 

“You’re late.” Said the familiar one as he opened the door on Jack’s side. Surprise splashed his face when he saw a new body sitting in his usual seat. 

“Oooooohh! Does this mean I can sit in the back?!” The green-haired boy beamed and looked around at the group. 

His most likely older brother huffed. “Hold on a moment, Genji. You know mother doesn’t like you sitting in the back.” 

“Sorry, darlin’, I forgot that Genji had limits to where he could sit.” Jesse scratched his head a little and looked at Jack. 

“Would it be a bother to ask you to climb in back with Gabe? Genji ain’t supposed to sit back there yet.” 

“It’s not a problem.” He said, hopping down out of the cab and next to the older brother.  
Genji was filled with pure hatred that was masked by a puny puppy lip. “Dammit…” He muttered as he climbed inside next to Jesse. 

“Thank you. My name is Hanzo.” He bowed a little at the waist before holding out his hand. “And my kid brother is called Genji.” 

Genji protested from the front seat that he wasn’t a kid and Jack took Hanzo’s hand to shake it. “Jack.” 

The stoic boy climbed into the cab next to his brother and closed the door as Jack flung his backpack into the bed of the truck and jumped in to sit next to Gabe. Those brown eyes met his blue ones as Jack’s behind hit the floor of the bed and the hooded boy looked at him. 

“How about Jack-off?” He asked, still stuck on the nicknames conversation. 

Jack smiled and shook his head. “The only person that would ever call me that would be my ex-girlfriend.” 

Gabe blinked, and had an expression for a split second that Jack could only describe as lost. Quickly, he gained his composure back and threw more nicknames at him. Weird. Jack pretended like he didn’t notice the small break in his visage. 

Two more students jumped in the back to join in on the fun. Finally formally introduced, he learned that the shining brunette’s name was Lena. Amélie’s name was remembered from before, like Gabe and Jesse's, but this situation was different. Now they all knew his name. God help him if they ever figured out that he had unknowingly stalked all of them days before. Not like they seemed they would care much, but they would give him shit until the day he died. 

Conversation remained clean and devoid of any raunchiness until Jesse dropped Genji off at his middle school. Then everything went straight into the gutter. 

“I’ve got one, I’ve got one.” Lena piped up, holding up her hands as if she were about to pitch a movie script.

“Fuck, marry, kill: Mr. Buglia, Mrs. Pruett, Mrs. Midolo. Go. And no closing your eyes for the sex. No pretending it’s someone else.” She snaps her fingers and looks around at everyone as they all think. Everyone except for Jack. 

“I don’t know those people, sorry.” He apologizes and Lena makes a “psh” sound. “It’s alright, it’s best if you didn’t. They’re the worst.” 

Gabe speaks up first. “Definitely kill Mr. Buglia. I don’t think he could handle my dick or being in a committed relationship. It’d be a pity kill.” 

Amélie grimaces. “I would kill Mrs. Pruett. At least Mr. Buglia has money. He’s the best pick for the marry option.” 

The whole truck makes a disgusted noise in unison, as if rehearsed. 

“So that means that you’d fuck _Mrs. Midolo?!”_ Jesse screeches in disgust from the front seat as he pulls into the parking lot. 

Amelie pauses and backtracks, holding up her hands in defense. “I forgot about her. Hold on, let me think this through again.” 

Jesse parks the car and the group of arguing students exit the vehicle, debate hot on their tongues. It’s like this kind of conversation is their own personal brand of coffee. No wonder they’re always wide awake during school. Lena shows pictures of the people from the game to Jack on her phone while they walk in and he makes an “ew” noise for all of them, making her giggle each time. _This was the hospitality_ he was looking for in people here. He didn’t expect to be accepted into their group so smoothly. Thank God his parents decided to move into the middle of nowhere where the buses didn’t reach or otherwise he’d still be sitting alone in class. 

_Shit. Class._ Jack inwardly groaned. He would probably still be alone in class since the majority of this new group were underclassmen. Lena was a freshman, Jesse, a sophomore, and the other two were juniors. The only other senior was Gabe and the chances of them having a class together were slim considering the size of the school. At the very least he could get directions to the rooms from someone with experience walking the halls. Pulling out his newly printed schedule, he sighed and stood shoulder to shoulder with the slightly taller boy. He held it out in front of them both. 

“Do you know where these rooms are? My classes got switched around and I’m completely lost again.” He asked and Gabe pointed at a few of the periods. 

“Oh yeah, I actually have these three classes at the same time. You can just follow me around for the first half of the day. Then I’ll tell you where the others are after.” 

Relief washed over Jack as Gabe spoke those simple words. Now there was a chance he would actually enjoy some of his classes. The group started to disassemble as they all uttered promises of seeing each other later. 

“Well, I gotta take off, darlin’. If I’m late again then I’m gonna get detention for sure this time. C’mere.” Jesse rambled as he pulled Hanzo closer and gave him a small, chaste kiss on the lips. Then he was gone down the hallway, fast as he could. Teachers tried to yell for him to slow down but the cowboy was a man on a mission. 

Jack blinked and looked at Hanzo, who smiled fondly before walking off down his own path. Blindly following Gabe, he said goodbye to those that remained standing in their spot. It wasn’t like he was opposed to it, but the relationship certainly caught him off guard. Gabe noticed and smirked.

“They’ve been close to married for about a year now. Feels like ever since Hanzo moved here. Cute, aren’t they?” He hummed. 

“Yeah… but how does a Japanese kid hook up with a cowboy?” Jack raised an eyebrow and looked over at him. Gabe chuckled. 

“Who knows. The story I got was that Hanzo fell to pieces the minute Jesse asked for his number. Everyone’s got a type.” The hooded boy rounded a corner with Jack right behind him. 

“I guess so. That just caught me a little off guard.” _You just never know who bats for the other team,_ Jack thought to himself. 

\---------------------

The first three classes of the day went much better than they did the first three days of school. He and Gabe got together thick as thieves. More nicknames arose throughout the course of the day. “Boyscout?” Gabe began teasing after Jack had told him that he, in fact, had been a Boyscout back in Indiana throughout his middle school years. A nickname had finally stuck. Being part of the group felt more official now. 

Out of habit of following him around all day, Jack followed Gabe to his locker. “Hold up, I gotta wait here for a bit; one of my friends has something for me that I need this weekend. Your next class should be right around the corner if you wanted to go on ahead.” Gabe leaned against the wall next to his open locker, glancing around. 

“Yeah, I’ll go on ahead. Thanks for showing me around. Does Jesse drive you all home too or should I catch the bus?” Jack asked, hands fiddling with his phone a little. 

Gabe nodded at him. “He drives us home, yeah, I’ll make sure he waits up for you in the lot.” 

Jack thanked him again and turned around the corner, searching for the room number. His hands dug around in his pockets to look for the schedule that would tell him where his class was and they found nothing. Frozen, he looked around and remembered that Gabe had taken it to jot down the quickest paths to take to get to each class. 

He sighed through his nose and backtracked, approaching Gabe’s locker and hoping he’d still be there. Fortunately he was, but he was in the presence of a huge, looked-way-too-old-to-be-in-high-school man who had thick, white hair on top of his head pulled back into a bun. The sides of his head were shaved and his fingernails were painted black. And Jack thought Gabe was the most intimidating person in Clearwater. 

Even from a distance, Jack could tell what was going on. The large man handed Gabe a ziploc bag filled halfway with weed. He probably thought it had been a smooth pass; either that or he just didn’t give a shit getting caught dealing drugs at school. _Even after changing my schedule to avoid them, one of my only friends is a fucking stoner._ Jack felt foolish, like somehow he should have known. Deal having been done, the two parted and only then did Jack deem it worthy of a time to approach Gabe.

“Hey, uh, I forgot to get my schedule back from you. I don’t know which number the room was supposed to be.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. 

Gabe set the bag gently in the locker, obviously not trying to hide it, and closed the door shut. He plucked the schedule from one of his hoodie pockets and handed it over. 

“My bad. Now run so you’re not late to Mr. Shafer’s class. He’s got a zero-tolerance policy on tardiness. Even to new students, probably. He’s the kinda dude to blame you for not planning out your route in advance.” He warned and waved goodbye over his shoulder. 

Jack walked hurriedly back to the hallway and into his assigned classroom. _It’s just weed, I guess. Each to their own._ He thought, trying to justify Gabe's actions as he sat down and got out his supplies for class. _As long as he doesn’t pull me along on a drug spree._

\---------------------

As a bell like a fire engine screamed down the halls of the school, the students all moved like cattle out to their respective rides home. Making his way through the slow moving crowd, he headed back towards the student lot where his new friends stood around, waiting for him. Genuine warmth greeted him, unlike the cigarette smoke from the first day, Jesse patting him on the back and Lena demanding a play-by-play of his day. Gabe asked him if he’d found the rest of his classes okay and Jack confirmed that he had, thanks to the notes that Gabe had written for him. 

They started going down the road in the same seating arrangement as before, and Lena perked up. 

“Oi! Jack, we gotta add you to the groupchat so you know when we hang out! What’s your number?” Her phone flew out in a way similar to her personality; excited and flashy.

He’d never been part of a groupchat before. All of his friends back in Indiana were far from tech-savvy and they all preferred talking on the phone. These people almost gave Jack more comfort than the friends he’d known for years back in his home state. Giving her the number, the rest of the group whooped in celebration of a new person being inducted into their way of life. Like being added to the chat was the big decider. He was in. 

They dropped everyone off in reverse order, Lena going first, and then Amélie. Hanzo and Genji were dropped off at their stop and all that remained were Jack, Jesse, and Gabe. The latter two of the three kept up a conversation in Spanish while Jack looked around from the bed of the truck, finally getting past the hot and sticky feeling of southern California. It felt a lot less sticky in the vicinity of friends, even if he’d only known them for a day. 

\---------------------

When Jack finally got home, he showered immediately napped until dinnertime, where he told his parents that he’d finally made some friends. They were equally as excited as him, though their excitement was probably just their guilt melting away after making him move from everything he ever knew into a whole different world. 

As he began to doze off that night, his phone vibrated like crazy on his bedside table. Opening one eye, he squinted against the bright light shining from the screen and read the text from a number that wasn’t yet attached to a name. He could guess who it was. 

 

\- Ok ok guys picture this. Picture this. FMK...

Jack fell asleep before he could picture whatever Lena was typing.


	2. A donde fueres, haz lo que vieres.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month into his new school year, Jack has finally become comfortable in California. Gabe can't keep his eyes open and Jack doesn't know why. Jamison Fawkes' bi-annual birthday party is coming up soon. It isn't even his birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooly Jesus, I did _not_ mean for this chapter to run as long as it did. I expected another 5k and for this to be uploaded two days ago, but I just kept on writing. My bad! So now it's at 8k all by accident and the last 3k words are pretty much shit that I freehanded/ didn't write out or plan beforehand. But I like how this chapter turned out! Thank you guys for waiting patiently and giving me so much positive feedback on the first chapter ! I hope you guys are in for a fic full of ups and downs. Chapter three is going to be better !!!!!!! 
> 
> And a HUGE THANK YOU to DaughterOfInkAndLetters who helped me translate all of the Spanish lines between Gabe and Jesse! You, my friend, are a lifesaver, and helped me make the fic feel more realistic.

Several weeks into the school year, Jack had finally gotten used to every part about California, save for how hot it was. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the heat, but thankfully that’s what shorts were for. Having friends and a means of transportation definitely helped him get acclimated, and friends who exposed him to everything that California had to offer were the best ones he could have dreamed for. 

The best part for the rest of the group was watching Jack experience things for the first time. Gabe was especially entertained by the way Jack’s eyes filled with tears as he ate the “Hottest Wings on the West Coast” from Joadie’s, thinking they wouldn’t be as bad as advertised. Never before was he as wrong as he’d been in that moment when he ordered them despite the warnings from all of the surrounding people. It was a precious memory after his mouth had stopped burning an hour later, regardless of how much milk he drank. 

Having only known them for close to a month was irrelevant, since he now felt like he’d known them for years. That was just how they functioned. It’s like the feeling of awkwardness didn’t exist in any of their bodies.

The first weekend of him being in town had consisted of them piling into Amélie’s room to watch the scariest movies they could find and rate the monsters on a “would fuck” scale of one to ten. Jack jokingly gave the Babadook a solid nine because “his mouth is so big he could get anything in there”, which made the room erupt in laughter and awarded him a few hard slaps on the back from Gabe, who had quickly become his best friend in the few weeks of knowing him. Even his parents had somehow become friends with him from the few times Gabe visited the house. His unexpectedly charming personality didn’t even spare the elderly from its grasp. 

School was fine; he did his work on time, he was rarely late, and never cut class. A good student, like he was raised to be. The senior slump was carefully avoided. He didn’t want to have his parents worry about his grades anyway, since it was his last year and they were supposed to be relaxing in retirement. As and Bs on his report card were an excuse to go off and hang around with his friends, which was one of the only things he gave value ever since he moved. Getting grounded as a senior would be embarrassing. 

\-----------------------------------

Jack’s alarm went off at a later time than it had in the first week of school. At around 6:20, a less forbidden time to be awake, the shrill, repetitive beeping filled his room and he quickly shut it off, sitting up in bed. Due to a new habit, he checked his phone to read the goings-on in the group chat that he began to frequent. Every morning Lena, who Jack guessed got up even earlier than he did, texted a “fuck, marry, kill” or an equivalent question to spark a debate to get them all woken up. This morning’s read : 

=

[Lena]

-Morning, Loves! :)

-FMK: Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill. Go. 

[Clit Eastwood]

-ew… why all the fuckin old men this mornign… 

[Lena]

-Because the gross ones make you guys think more! Admit it! 

=

Jesse had decided to put his own name in Jack’s phone and he still wasn’t sure why he would dub himself anything similar to Clit Eastwood. It must have been an inside joke. 

He left the two to bicker in the chat while he got up and pulled on some clothes. It was Friday morning, which meant that the group was probably now planning which house to crash at and which movies to watch this weekend. On occasion they would hop in Jesse’s truck and drive around, telling stories to each other as they sped down long roads for hours, or until Jesse got tired of driving or didn’t want to hear his parents complain about wasted gas. Jack has only been on one of those runs so far, but thoroughly enjoyed the company and the carefree feeling of going 70 mph in the back of a pickup. He hoped for more of those times in the future, but the movie nights were enough until then. 

Pulling on a pair of khaki shorts and plain black t-shirt, he mindlessly went through the rest of his morning routine before kissing his mom goodbye and walking out of the front door to wait for Jesse. It would be any second that the nearly-dead vehicle would be heard in the distance. He pulled out his phone, scrolling quickly through the groupchat that had become a feud between Lena and Jesse about how satisfying sex with a bald man could be, with Amélie and Hanzo occasionally giving their input up until the four most recent texts. 

=

[Lena]

-All Im saying is that sex with a bald guy seems like it would be smooth 

[Clit Eastwood]

-Well all i kno is that sex w hanzo is great and hes gotta lot of hair so bald sex has gotta be the worst. Omw , no textin and drivin. ;) 

[Lena]

-How did I know you would bring that up. You with your long hair kink. K . 

[Hanzo]

-I am flattered you think it’s great but don’t use me as a comparison to hypothetical sex with Winston Churchill. 

=

Gabe was surprisingly not active in the chat today, when he was usually one of the first to respond to Lena’s question of the morning. Maybe he was sick and sleeping in. The familiar rumbling of Jesse’s engine was heard in the distance and Jack locked his phone, waiting for his personal bus to pull up to his front door. 

“Mornin’!” Jesse yelled from the open window, watching Jack walk around the front of the beast. The blonde waved as he passed around front, where Jesse decided to inch the truck forward a little and Jack jumped back, mostly concerned about if the brakes worked well enough to stop it from hitting him. He climbed in the passenger side, Jesse laughing to himself as he started to speed off again. 

“You know I don’t trust this truck.” Jack laughed, sitting back and looking out the side window. 

“Honestly, I don’t either, but it hasn’t done me wrong yet.” 

“So what would you have done if you’d hit me just then?” 

“Probably laugh because if you’d get hit by a truck goin’ three miles an hour, I think you’d kinda deserve it.” 

“Touché.” Jack nodded. 

\-----------------------------------

The truck pulled up to a squeaking stop in front of Gabe’s house and Jesse honked the horn. Jack jumped out of the cab and walked his way around to the bed of the truck in preparation for Genji and Hanzo sitting up front. Normal morning routine. There was louder yelling coming from the house than there had been on mornings before, making Jack wonder if noise complaints were a thing of the past or if people in Gabe’s neighborhood even cared anymore. After a minute or two of waiting, the screen door remained picture-still and Jesse huffed. 

_“Gabe, no estoy intentando llegar tarde gracias a tu culo perezoso!”_ Jesse yelled before honking the horn again. This time, Gabe finally walked out, staggering as if he were drunk. _Not even Gabe would be stupid enough to go to school drunk, would he?_ Jack thought as Gabe plopped himself in the back. He didn’t smell like alcohol. 

_“Por que carajos tardaste tanto?”_ Jesse asked before pulling off, only getting a short grunt in reply before Gabe leaned over and rested his head on Jack’s shoulder. The blonde accommodated for the sudden responsibility of being a good pillow and he and Jesse had a silent agreement to cease conversation for a while. 

\-----------------------------------

Gabe must have dozed off and fallen completely asleep in the back of the truck, because by the time they reached Hanzo and Genji’s stop, he was unresponsive to any sort of conversation or sound at all. Even Genji’s high pitched whining about how gross Hanzo and Jesse were when they kissed in greeting didn’t make his eyes open. Jack would have assumed he was up late studying, if Gabe studied at all. 

When they drove by Amélie’s large neighborhood to pick her up, she whistled at the sleeping mass of black clothing. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Jesse?” She asked, crossing her arms and looking at Gabe sympathetically. 

“Yeah, I kinda figured the same thing.” He slowed to pick up Lena a few more blocks down, who teased the couple up front about bald sex, and then could be seen mentally kicking herself for being loud after laying eyes on Gabe. 

“Thinking what?” Jack asked, careful not to wake what was probably a time bomb on his shoulder, the way they were all acting about it. 

“It ain’t really our place to tell you, but ‘m sure he’d tell you himself when he wakes up if ya asked.” Jesse said. 

Jack nodded in respect and looked on off the back of the truck, since conversation was dead and the others sat quietly in the tension that Gabe’s sleeping form had created. Roads and buildings were swallowed fast by the horizon as the truck powered on through town, sounds outside of the bed wholly drowned by the hum of the engine. If it were a normal morning void of conversation, he might think it was peaceful. 

\-----------------------------------

Gabe remained asleep until a little after dropping Genji off next to two equally as quirky middle schoolers. With a loud yawn, he lifted his head slowly off of Jack’s shoulder, and the blonde was finally able to shift his arm after the heaviness of his friend’s skull was gone.

“Long night?” Jack decided to ask, hoping that he would be clued in on the mysterious, vague conversation between the other members of the group. 

Unfortunately his hopes were crushed, and all he was given from his friend was a nod and a “Yeah, you could say that.” Maybe he would have to be a little more forward later in the day. 

“Hope you get a bit of sleep before Jamison’s party tomorrow night, love! You won’t be at your best partying potential!” Lena nudged him a little with the toe of her boot. 

Gabe frowned. “Fuck, I forgot about that. I’ll try my best but fuck knows I probably won’t be able to sleep for the next three days.” 

His eyes looked like they might sink into his head from sleep deprivation. Jack could assume that this insomnia had been happening over the course of a few nights, since one night alone hadn’t hurt Gabe like this before. He’d pulled all-nighters at their get-togethers in the past and had been able to make everyone breakfast the next morning. He was a pancake-making champion. Questions were going to be asked at a later time; for now, Jack was going to go along with the current conversation. 

“Party? What party?” He popped in while they discussed transportation issues. 

Amélie glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. “No one told you?” 

“We been talkin’ about it in the group chat all week.” Jesse yelled back. 

“It’s just a party that a mutual friend of ours is throwing. He usually throws one for his birthday but he has at least five “birthdays” a year, so no one really knows how old he is.” Amélie summarized. “He’s a crazy partier but there is usually free alcohol so just about everyone goes.” 

“Oh, I’m not much of a drinker.” Jack held up his hands and said shyly. “Doesn’t sound like my kind of party.”

“Well, we’d be indebted to you if you went and were our designated driver!” Lena spoke fast and clapped her hands together in a begging motion. 

“I don’t know…” Jack hesitated and looked around at all the hopeful faces, even Jesse looking at him through the rearview mirror. Driving around a bunch of drunk minors at God knows what hour was going to be risky, he knew, but he didn’t want to let any of them down. _This is some intense peer pressure,_ he thought as he gave a confirming nod. 

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get my parents’ car for the night but I can try.” He said. 

“Oh, don’t worry; if all else fails you can just use my truck.” Jesse beamed. _I hope not,_ Jack thought. 

With a chorus of “thank you, Jack!”s being shouted, Jesse pulled into his usual parking spot and cut off the engine. Automatically giving a bunch of “you’re welcome”s in response, he began to think about how to drive as legally as possible in order to not have all of them get arrested tomorrow night. Even though they would most likely get arrested at the party rather than on the drive home, he still had anxiety about it. 

They walked in the building, AC blasting them all in the face, and Jack pulled on his jacket that he’d learned to bring. September wasn’t any cooler than August was; to him, anyway, but the school had turned into a huge freezer in comparison to the heat outside. No wonder Gabe was able to wear a hoodie and a beanie with ease. 

In the few minutes before class, they talked about absolute nonsense. Lena continued the bald sex conversation from earlier in the morning, with Jesse using the same example, leading to a red-faced Hanzo turning away from the conversation. Jack remembered a few weeks ago when they’d finally gone all the way and Jesse called him at 3am on a Sunday to describe every little part of the night.

The phone had been as far away from his ear as his arm could reach when he finally got to the climax. Jack definitely didn’t want to hear about Jesse having sex and even more so didn’t want to hear about Jesse having sex before _he_ did. It was embarrassing. _Virgin._ His old friend’s voice bounced in his head, teasing him and his pickiness of the girls back in Indiana. He grimaced. 

“Jesse McCree!” A girl’s voice shouted down the hall towards the group and interrupted Jack’s thoughts. _Angela,_ he thought, seeing the graceful blonde girl walk down the hallway. Jack had met her weeks before through the cowboy, when he had to go to her for bandages because he got a “paper cut”. Jesse had claimed that they were very close childhood friends, but most of their interactions were full of useless bickering back and forth. Her tall girlfriend was in tow behind her, and had surprised Jack to hear she was a freshman. Fareeha, if he remembered right. She gave a silent wave to the group as she held her books to her chest. Jack waved back.

“Angela?! What?” He yelled as the short blonde approached him, looking to be out for blood before popping him on the head. 

“You _know_ what! Now give it back!” She shouted, making a grab for his backpack. 

“Hey, now, I dunno what you’re talkin’ about!” He held it up above his head, terror in his eyes. 

“Jesse! Give me my damned math homework back!” She crossed her arms and Fareeha took a threatening step forward. 

The group looked away and parted, the bell about to ring soon anyway. Hanzo wished Jesse luck, kissed his cheek, and walked off towards the high concentration of Junior classrooms. Screams from a fearful cowboy filled the hallway behind them all as Fareeha plucked the backpack from his arms, Angela watching on the sidelines. 

Jack snorted and looked over to Gabe. “Are you going to give him shit about that later?” 

“Oh _God,_ yeah. Who do you think I am? A good person?” He gave a sleepy chuckle and stepped inside of the classroom, immediately sitting at his desk and putting his head down. 

“Of course not. How dare I think that for a second.” 

Classes couldn’t go by faster. Excitement buzzed around school about the party tomorrow, which Jack was confused as to how he hadn’t heard about until this morning, and students sat restless in their seats. Eager for the fun coming this weekend, the amount of instruction that students allowed teachers to do was at an all-time low. That’s probably why Gabe was allowed to nod off in most classes, apart from Geography, where Mrs. Reagan had a strict no-sleeping policy and would bee-line markers at his forehead whenever his eyes closed for more than a second. Homicidal mutters could be heard from the hooded boy that sat next to Jack. 

\-----------------------------------

At the end of the day, Gabe was the very definition of the word “wiped”. Eyes burning an angry red from being forced open for so long, paired with his inability to focus on any little thing were testament to that. Jack made sure to keep an eye on him in case he actually dropped to the floor from fatigue. 

His heavy eyelids didn’t stop him from giving Jesse shit about the stolen homework, though. Most of the shit was about stealing _Angela’s_ homework, of all people's, like a teacher would just assume the perfect handwriting was Jesse’s, and the other half of it was being manhandled by Angela’s buff girlfriend. The latter visibly stung worse, as Jesse dragged himself into the driver’s seat with a hint of a puppy lip. Hanzo’s pale hand patted his back in comfort, before giving him a soft burning about stealing homework when all he had to do was call him for help if he needed it. The words were better accepted from the mouth of his boyfriend. 

Gabe resumed his position from before, propped up on Jack’s shoulder as the truck sped along. The group was a lot more talkative than they were this morning, since the tension was gone and Gabe’s eyes were actually open, tired browns looking past the two sitting across from him and out into a point in space. Jack had never had the opportunity to ask about what kept him up so much the last few nights, unfortunately. All day he’d just let Gabe sleep as much as he could, which collectively wasn’t much. On and off hour naps never really satisfied exhaustion. 

En route to Gabe’s house, the sleep deprived boy raised his head, scanning the line of houses leading up to his own. Obviously not impressed by what he saw, he turned his head to instead look at Jack.

“Hey, uh, can I crash at your place for a while? I can tell I’m not going to get any sleep again and I could use a nap.” His voice was borderline begging, and Jack couldn’t say no to those sunken eyes. 

“Sure thing.” And relief flooded Gabe’s face before he lowered his head back down on Jack’s shoulder. 

“So you’re both goin’ to Jack’s?” Jesse confirmed before he reached the house to get some sort of direction as to where he needed to be going. 

“Yeah, both of us.” Jack answered. Gabe just grunted. 

\-------------------------

Jesse pulled up in front of Jack’s shortly after, and mutters of thanks came from both passengers. 

_“Diviértete durmiendo en su cama, Gabe~”_ Jesse said in a teasing tone, which Gabe flipped him off for. 

_“Créeme, lo haría si no sintiera que estoy a punto de caerme.”_ Jesse smiled at Gabe’s response, winked, and sped off back towards his house. Jack just led the way, oblivious to whatever antics they spoke in a language he didn’t understand. 

The two of them were greeted with great warmth by Jack’s parents, who shot fast questions at Jack about how his day was, and why Gabe was there. 

“It was good, just really long.” He replied to the day questions first, just trying to get past the barrage in order to settle Gabe in upstairs. 

“He’s here to sleep, since he hasn’t been able to at his house.” 

“Oh, that’s no good! Take all the time you need, honey!” Lucy said, sympathy genuine in her voice. 

“Gladly. Thank you very much, Mrs. Morrison.” Gabe gave a weak smile, obviously on his last leg. 

“We’ll be upstairs, Ma. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be awake.” Jack said as he climbed the stairway, its walls lined with family portraits. His friend followed.

“You had the chubbiest little kid cheeks I’ve ever seen.” Gabe snickered as he reached the top of the stairs and walked straight down the blue hallway into Jack’s bedroom. 

“Shut up, I was cute as hell.” He chuckled back. 

“You sure were.”

The boxes had finally been unpacked and disposed of, its contents carefully organized in the appropriate places around his room. A few stray items of clothing lay on the ground, and Jack quickly picked them up, excusing the mess, and threw them into his hamper. 

“Sorry the bed isn’t made, but the sheets should be clean. Do you need pajamas?” Jack asked as Gabe toed off his shoes. 

“Nah, I don’t think I can last the minute it would take to change.” And he practically body slammed himself into Jack’s queen size, tucking himself in.

“Alright, well, I’ll be doing homework, so let me know if you need anything.” A muffled grunt was heard from the direction of Gabe’s head, probably in acknowledgement. 

Jack sat at his desk and pulled out the little homework he’d been given to do over the weekend and easily crunched through it as Gabe snored softly behind him. _He sounds a little like a kitten purring,_ Jack thought as he circled an answer on his math homework. 

\-----------------------------------

An hour passed, and Jack’s interest in typing his essay tumbled into hell. The less engrossed he was in typing a paper on the history of the cotton gin, the louder Gabe seemed to snore. He gave up with a sigh, closing the computer. It wasn’t due until Friday next week anyway. There was just nothing else to do besides mindlessly scroll through his phone, which was exactly what he was about to do until Gabe woke up. 

Silently pushing in his rolling chair under his desk, he made his way over to the bed and sat down in the section not inhabited by a sleeping panther. He propped up one of his pillows against the headboard and leaned back, clicking through his phone. The groupchat had been incredibly active, per usual, but even more so now that it was Friday night. Now the topic of conversation was stuck on a situation based on the body swapping of your lover and your parent of the same sex. 

=

[Amélie]

-So if your dad and Hanzo switched bodies and you had to sleep with one of them to switch them back, which one would you sleep with? 

[Clit Eastwood]

-... but my dad’s body is so hairy…. 

[Lena]

-I thought you said you liked hair ;) 

[Clit Eastwood]

-i like it on the head !!!!!!!!!!!!!! why aint yall just let me live i dont like bald but my dad is a fuckin bear 

=

Jack laughed a little to himself, letting those three go back and forth since he really didn’t have much of a voice in the argument. He just let himself get lost on the internet until his mom called up for dinner, making Jack cringe from the high octave that his mother’s voice could hit. Gabe remained unmoving and unresponsive, fortunately, as Jack slowly lifted himself off of the bed and made his way as silently as he could downstairs to the table. 

“Is Gabe still sleeping? It’s been about three hours now!” Lucy said, mouth full of mashed potatoes. 

“Yeah, he was really out of it today; I think he hasn’t slept well for a while.” Jack sat at his usual seat, across from a plate that his mother had presumably made for his sleeping friend. 

“Well, sit his plate in the microwave after we’re done so he has something when he wakes up.” His dad said, gesturing with his fork as he spoke. 

“Yessir.” Jack began to eat and give a more detailed summary of his day through mouthfuls of food and was given the occasional scolding from his mother when he didn’t cover his mouth as he spoke. The party wasn’t mentioned, one of the only times he wasn’t honest with his parents in his life, but as long as they didn’t catch wind of it then he would remain trusted by them. He didn’t like it when they didn’t trust him, so he was usually as honest as he could be without getting in trouble by oversharing. And telling them about a party where he could potentially get arrested was the very definition of oversharing. 

\-----------------------------------

Dinner was quick and mostly consisted of Lucy and John talking about what they were going to do this weekend, which ended up, thankfully, being to stay in and deciding to plan something for another time. That would mean that Jack would get the car with no problem, as long as he said he was going to Jesse’s for movie night. California brought out the worst in him. Lying about where he was going to be was something he would never have done in earlier times. 

He was now back upstairs, watching something mindless on Netflix next to Gabe on the bed. It was nearing 11pm, and at this point his friend would have gotten himself a full eight hours. Gabe probably needed more than that, but his body clock obviously decided that it was time to get up, and the mass of blankets shifted next to him before rising. 

“You look rested.” Jack said, taking an earbud out and pausing his show. 

“What time is it?” Gabe yawned and unwrapped himself from the nest he’d made. 

“Around eleven. You must’ve been tired as hell. Are you hungry?” 

“Fucking eleven. And of course I am, if it’s your mother’s cooking.” 

“Like my dad knows how to cook. Come on, there’s steak and mashed potatoes for you if you want them now.” Jack stood up and stretched, waiting.

Gabe looked at him, blinking sleep out of his eyes for a few seconds before setting his feet on the floor and standing beside the blonde. 

“I didn’t eat lunch, of course I’m hungry now.” 

“You probably should have, it’s not good to skip meals.” Jack walked down the stairs with Gabe right behind him. 

“I thought my time would have been better spent taking a nap.” The two reached the kitchen and Gabe watched as Jack clicked the minute button on the microwave. 

“Uh-huh. Go ahead and sit, I’ll take care of you.” Jack said, and like magic, Gabe sat at one of the stools next to the island. 

“Thanks for all this. Now I might last the weekend.” Gabe yawned again, rubbing at his eyes. 

“Yeah, why couldn’t you sleep? Is it like an insomnia thing?” Jack took the plate out of the microwave, grabbed a fork, and sat the food in front of his friend. “Drink?” 

“If you have coke, that’d be great. And nah, I don’t have insomnia, it’s because of my dad.” He grabbed his fork and started to chow down, obviously as hungry as he was tired. 

Jack opened the fridge to check for the drink of choice and pulled out a cold, red can for Gabe. Pulling his own stool up to sit across from him, Jack sat the can down and listened. 

“He’s a terrible drunk. And I mean god-fucking-awful. Like the whole punching and yelling and “I wish I never had kids” rants right in front of all of us. Mom tells him to piss off on the regular and always tells him that she doesn’t want him around but the moment he pulls in the driveway…” He holds up his hands for effect. “ _Bam._ She’s fucking putty in his hands again. And she lets him sit around, drinking, taking our money, staying up all night making as much noise as possible, making all of us miserable. The one time I told him to fuck off and leave because none of us needed him, he nearly knocked some of my teeth out. Then I just stopped trying and avoided him, hoping everyone else would help me gang up on him. Just a violent and disgusting person that we don’t have the money to truly get away from. He thinks that his kids still love him.” 

He ate through his whole story, mouth full, but Jack could still understand every word. 

“My two younger sisters obviously have more sympathy than I do because they’re always the ones that make him feel welcome to give him the fifty-seventh chance because _maybe this time he really changed._ I don’t blame them, though. They’re still too young to understand that he just needs to be locked up. And now my mom has a fourth kid that we can’t afford on the way because she just can’t say no or tell him to get out when he’s there.” He took a sip of coke. 

“It’s a long story, really. A lot of shitty days and nights because of him, but there are too many to describe over such a delicious steak.” 

“Damn, I’m sorry about all that, Gabe.” Jack said, leaning forward on his elbows and looking at his friend through sad eyes. 

“ _Así son las cosas._ At least I have some friends that let me crash at their places when it gets to be too much.” Gabe smiles, finishing off what food he had on his plate. 

“I hate to be greedy, but are there any leftovers you could spare?” He said, obviously still hungry, giving his best please face. 

“Of course. _Mi casa es tu casa._ ” Jack said, trying to use what little Spanish phrases he knew. 

“Holy shit you pronounced that wrong, boyscout.” Gabe laughed and smiled at Jack fondly as he was turned, looking in the fridge. 

\-----------------------------------

Gabe ended up staying the night, saying it was no use going home at midnight when he would just end up subject to his dad’s assault on his sleep schedule. At around eight, Jack had asked for the car and gotten the keys without a problem. His story of going to Jesse’s for movie night was told to all of those that were in the groupchat in case it came up in conversation and the stories wouldn’t add up. _Like a covert ops mission,_ Jack thought as he pulled out of his driveway and out towards Jesse’s house first with Gabe in the passenger seat, ready to party. 

They listened to the radio as they went down the long road to Jesse’s ranch, and spotted him at the end of his winding driveway. Jack slowed to a stop to let him get in. 

“Howdy!” Jesse yelled as he climbed in the back seat, already stinking of booze. Jack decided to get an air freshener for the car after he’d dropped everyone off so his parents wouldn’t pick up any traces of what was really going to happen tonight. 

“Hey, cowboy. You get some pre-party drinking done without us?” Gabe teased. 

“‘F course not.” He waved a dismissive hand. Tipsy, already. 

_You just have to get them there and back, Jack,_ He thought as he went a normal speed down the road that Jesse usually hauled ass down. 

He drove to all the normal stops after that, where they stood in wait for their red Subaru of a bus to come and pick them all up. A buzzed Lena and actually sober Amélie sat crushed together in the back while Hanzo sat on Jesse’s lap and they had a party of their own, forcing them all to listen to the continuous wet making-out sounds and heavy breathing. Drunk Jesse was definitely leaps and bounds more frisky than sober Jesse. 

“The car is _not_ here for sex.” Jack teased, Jesse either ignoring him or too invested in Hanzo to hear a thing. The rest of the group laughed and supplied a chorus of “oooooooooohhh”s along with Jack’s gentle chiding. Amélie thankfully helped Jack with directions to the mansion of a house that they pulled up to. There was no mistaking that a party was happening inside, the deep bass shaking the entire block. The house _was_ the block, though, so no noise complaints. No wonder everyone went to this party. Jack cut the engine and jostled the two face-eaters in the back and told them to take it inside. The others got out on their own and went up the freshly-swept marble sidewalk.

Jack walked in behind the rest of the group, Jesse managing to continue groping Hanzo all the way inside and Lena hanging off of Amélie. Gabe just led the pack, opening the front door and weaving his way in through the crowd of drunken high schoolers to probably find the alcohol. Jesse took Hanzo off somewhere a little more private and was completely out of sight. The foyer, and just about as far as the eye could see, was filled with intoxicated teenagers, grinding and dancing to the bass that shook Jack’s insides. Lights were dim and the only bright ones were coming from spinning colorful strobe lights. The party defined claustrophobia. Now amidst all of his schoolmates, in the thick of the party, he felt like he had on his first day at Clearwater. Amélie grabbed his shoulder with her free arm, since Lena was hanging off of the other one, begging to go dance. 

“Thank you so much for this. I know being sober at a party is a bit of a drag.” She said, removing her hand and patting the top of Lena’s head to calm her for a second while she spoke. 

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” He lied, smiling, and she walked off with Lena. All of his senses were in overdrive and he was certain that his friends were going to leave him entirely to do their preferred party activities. His clothes felt as if they were tightening and it all of a sudden became very hot and sticky. Five minutes passed and watching the bright flashing room filled with people made him want to vomit. He had to leave, at least for a while. 

Deciding to act upon the promise he made to himself earlier, he left the party and sat back in the car, dead-set on driving to the nearest convenience store to buy an air freshener to mask the future smells that would be in the car. The engine growled to life and Jack pulled off of the curb he had parked at, driving out of the neighborhood. He decided to go fast, to try and see why Jesse liked it so much. All it did was cause him more anxiety than the party had, so his adrenaline rush was short-lived as he eased his foot on the break. 

He pulled over into the parking lot of a Seven-Eleven and sat in the car for a few minutes, listening to the radio and staring inside the store. The only people he saw were college age-looking students that were getting some cheap pastries and families in desperate need of a pit stop. A deep breath later, and he cut the car off once again and made his way inside, a friendly _ding_ sounding as he walked through the door. 

He waved to the cute, chubby brunette behind the counter dressed in a coat way too hot for this weather, and stepped into the tiny aisle for automobile needs. A vanilla scented yellow cardboard tree stared at him, and he plucked it off of the rack without a second thought. He walked up to the counter and pinched the bridge of his nose. Setting the tree in front of him, he pulled out his phone to check the time, hoping it would be close to ten already. It wasn’t even nine. The girl scanned his miniature savior and Jack handed her a five. 

“Hey, you go to my school, dontcha?” Her voice had an accent that he couldn’t quite place, but her English was clearer than Jesse’s. 

“It’s a possibility. Clearwater?” He asked, watching her get his change. 

“Oh, yeah! You do, then! The new kid that all of the girls in my class have been gushing over…” A pause. “You’re Jack, right?” She handed him correct change and he remained at the counter, trying to kill time. No one was behind him in line, anyway. 

“Yeah, that’s me. Apparently they’re really secretive about their gushing because I haven’t heard a thing.” He put his change and the little tree in his pocket. 

“High school girls are always good about that. I’m Mei, by the way. I hope I don’t crush your ego saying that I don’t gush over you. My girlfriend would be very disappointed in me if I did.” She giggled. 

“My ego is fine, don’t you worry.” He laughed back. 

He wished that he could have talked there for the rest of the party but a line was beginning to form behind him so he had no choice but to wish Mei a good evening and head back out to his car. Ripping the tree halfway out of its packaging, he hung it up and looked at it, counting in his head for about three minutes before he got thoroughly bored with that activity. Maybe there was something for him to participate in at the party that would require minimal alcohol in his system. Doubt ran through his veins and he sighed, backing up and heading to the party. The clock read 9:04. 

The deep bass still made the ground tremble as he pulled back into his old parking spot and he looked up in the windows, some pitch-black behind and some flashing intense colorful lights. He turned the car off once again and got out, locking the doors. Reentering the party, he saw that the dancing room hadn’t become less provocative, and had now become more so. Spilled drinks littered the floor, which Jack carefully avoided as he made his way through a thin part of the crowd, hoping to find one of his friends. Lena and Amélie were found first, but were incredibly occupied with each other. _I was wondering when that was going to happen,_ Jack thought. 

He was absolutely certain that Hanzo and Jesse wouldn’t be found until the party was near its close, so his last shining hope was Gabe, wherever he might be. Searching room after room, Jack considered just waiting back in the car and listening to whatever music his phone would play for him on shuffle until his friends staggered out. Being a designated driver proved to be dull. Surrounded by all of the drunken teenagers, he wished that he could also drink his discomfort away. 

“Heya, _Boyscout~_ ” A familiar voice called from a little ahead of him. Gabe stood, plastered, among a group of questionable schoolmates. The large boy that routinely gave Gabe weed stood in the close group, along with a tall, lanky, loud, Aussie kid and a shorter girl in a hijab. 

“Hey, Gabe.” Jack greeted back, stepping forward into the group. Nothing else to do, he decided to take his chances with these kids, despite how uneasy they made him. The girl in the hijab, didn’t, at least. She just smiled warmly at him standing next to Gabe. He gave her a small wave and a smile back. 

“Oi, oi, is this th-” The Aussie kid started, pointing at Jack, before the larger boy with white hair hushed him. 

_“Yeah.”_ Gabe replied, obviously knowing what the rest of the question would have asked. His now drunken friend slung an arm around his shoulders and leaned against him, sipping at whatever he had in his red cup. 

“Ooooooooh! Well, ma name’s Jamison, Jackie! Call me James if ya like! Gabe told me ya name, said you was new.” James held out a hand, which Jack reluctantly took. 

“And this is ma Mako!” The white-haired boy was presented as if he were a national treasure by James, which actually made Mako blush a little. “Ma big ol’ marshmallow, he is! Ain’t he cute!” 

“Stop that, Jamison, you’re embarrassing when you’re drunk.” Mako said, pulling him in a hug to keep him from doing anything else to harm his reputation of being a badass. 

“And this is Ana, Jack. Me and her go back. You two would get along, I bet.” Gabe said, gesturing to the pretty girl in the hijab. 

“Yes, Gabe has told me an awful lot about you. You seem good, and God knows he needs a little good in his life.” She said, giving Gabe a small punch on the shoulder. 

“I try hard to be a good friend. I’m even his designated driver tonight.” Jack said, putting a shoulder around Gabe in order to give him a little support. 

“Oh, no wonder you’re so easy to talk to, then. You’re sober. I’m a few kids’ ride, myself.” She tutted. “I thought I was a lone, sober wolf in the house.” 

“So was I. I had to step out for a bit, actually. It was too much to experience sober, I guess.” 

Ana nodded. “It is, but I just get used to it.” 

Jack and Ana went back and forth for a bit, the blonde happy to have found a kindred spirit. Mako and James went off somewhere, the conversation probably too dull for their liking, and Gabe stood there in his drunkenness, leaning against Jack and muttering things in Spanish occasionally. 

_“Eres hermoso~”_ He whispered into Jack’s ear at some point, who asked for an explanation and was only given a deep chuckle. Jack wasn’t sure why his friend whispering in his ear made goosebumps go down his body; maybe it was the anxiety that the loudness of the party still gave him. Ana turned her head at the sound of some underclassmen yelling

“There go my kids, ready to leave. Get my number from Gabe when he sobers up and maybe we could all get a bite to eat somewhere.” Ana said. “It was great to meet you, Jack.” She waved and turned, leaving Jack alone with a very inebriated Gabriel Reyes on his shoulder. 

“I think you’re about ready to leave too, big guy.” Jack said, rubbing his friend’s back. 

“ _Mmmmmmm~..._ You think so?” Gabe got dangerously close to Jack’s head, nuzzling down into the junction of his neck and shoulder, causing more shivers to run down Jack’s body. 

“Y-yeah, I’m pretty sure. You’ll probably pass out if you have any more to drink.” He craned his head and neck away in vain, Gabe just going right back to where he left off. _Holy shit-_ Jack’s eyes widened when he felt hot lips start trailing their way up his neck, and a strong arm pulling him closer, nearly flush to Gabe. _Hooooly shit-_ Jack wasn’t sure what to do, but he damn well did his best. 

“Uh- um- Gabe?!” Jack held his hands against Gabe’s chest, pushing him away and looking in his face. “I-I’m not-” he was cut off by a large pair of hands gripping onto his waist and pushing him back against the wall, his friend’s mouth now kissing up his jawline. “I’m n-not-” Jack tried again, pushing Gabe back just as his teeth had begun nibbling at his earlobe. Gabe looked confused and dazed, eyes lidded and brow furrowed. 

“I’m not gay, Gabe, I’m sorry. I-I can’t.” He finally managed to get out after his neck was viciously attacked, and his friend backed off. 

“‘F course you’re not. My bad.” Gabe sighed and wiped his face, walking off back towards the front of the house. “I’ll be in the car.” 

_Fuck._ Jack rubbed his temple, looking at the back of his retreating friend. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._  
In desperate need of a bathroom to splash his face and rid of the definite blush that he had, he took off and began searching. 

He found one soon enough and locked the door behind him. Cool water ran from the faucet after he turned the knob and he cupped the liquid in his hands, throwing it on his overheated face. After the water had ran out of his eyes, he stood there hunched over the marble white sink, hands on either side. He looked down. _FUCK._ Whatever Gabe did nearly worked, and the slight tent in his pants started to have him question _why_ he was so picky with girls. 

_Am I gay? After all this time?! No, no, no, it’s just because no one has ever really kissed my neck like that. I’m a virgin, it’s just biology. I’m straight. God… Gabe is gay?! For me?!_ He thought to himself, running more water and putting his head under the faucet to drown his frustrations. 

A few minutes later, he braved going back out and was determined to gather up his friends so he could get home and take a nice, cold shower. He wandered back out onto the dance floor, which had, overtime, just become a huge room dedicated to grinding on whoever was adjacent to you. Amélie and Lena were both now drunkenly slow dancing to the fast-paced song that was playing. Hating to be the one to break up the moment, he tapped on their shoulders. 

“We’re going, sorry.” He said, and Lena groaned. 

“Aw, rubbish. Alright, we’re coming.” She mumbled and pulled herself off of Amélie, but still held her hand. 

Jesse and Hanzo were a little harder to find, but the moaning and hushes from under the kitchen table told him where they were. Jack turned his head away after he laid eyes on Jesse bewteen Hanzo’s, thankfully clothed, legs, the two going at it like the kitchen table was invisible to the rest of the party. They probably would have gone all the way had Jack not come just then. 

“You two can party on elsewhere, but you’ve all had enough. We’ve gotta go.” He chided and the two reluctantly climbed out from under the table. They both hobbled, trying to walk with full erections. Hanzo pulled his jacket and shirt back on as they began to walk out. 

“Thank you guys for coming~!” James called out to them after spotting the group begin to shuffle out. He was being carried around princess-style by Mako with a “birthday boy” button pinned to his tank top.

Jack gave him a wave and followed the four out, spotting Gabe leaning against the car, having what was probably a stress smoke. The blonde tried not to make eye contact as he got in the driver’s seat and waited for everyone to pile in. Gabe got back in the passenger seat after disposing of his cigarette, and sat there stiff and awkward, looking out the window in silence.

The two pairs of lovebirds sat in the back, Lena leaning on Amélie’s shoulder, and the other two remained groping each other, whispering plans of where they were going to screw. Jack unfortunately heard every word as he drove, making a face. He had had enough sexual encounters for the night, especially after he was forced to evaluate his own sexuality. Lena was dropped off first, giving Amélie a kiss goodnight before hopping out and yelling to the sky that she “finally did it!” and fist pumping in the air. Amélie was dropped off at her house, silently with only a brief goodbye, probably just eager to text Lena in the safety of her own bedroom. 

Jesse and Hanzo both got out at Hanzo’s stop, not surprisingly, and that left Jack and Gabe alone again. The silence was unbearable, but Jack didn’t know what to say. Gabe was probably too intoxicated to use his charm or his sense of humor to ease the tension. Jack pulled up to Gabe’s house, assuming that Gabe wouldn’t want to sleep in the same bed as the man who rejected him tonight. 

“Goodnight, Gabe.” He tried, the passenger side door slamming shut, Gabe walking around the front of the car and into his house without giving Jack a response. 

_Goodbye, Gabe._ He sadly thought as he drove the road back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish-English translations for non-Spanish Speakers:
> 
> Gabe, no estoy intentando lllegar tarde gracias a tu culo perezoso!=Gabe, I'm not trying to be late because of your lazy ass!
> 
> Por que carajos tardaste tanto?=The fuck took you so long? 
> 
> Diviertete durmiendo en su cama, Gabe!=Have fun sleeping in his bed, Gabe~! 
> 
> Creeme, lo haria si no sintiera que estoy a punto de caerme.=Trust me, I would if I didn't feel like I was about to fall over.
> 
> Asi son las cosas.=It is what it is. 
> 
> Eres hermoso.= You're beautiful.
> 
> Sorry it took me a while to post these !!! I just got smacked with a shit load of motivation. Next chapter is being written, should be a few more days! Expect it around the 7th or 8th of this month!


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